Since accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in September of 1990, Mongolia has made great strides in establishing a system of child protection and revising its domestic legislation to adequately reflect the Convention. Mongolia has committed quite a large percentage of its resources, 20%, to health, education, and protection for children. Its population is very young, with 45% of Mongolian citizens under age 18.[2] The child protection system instituted in the 1996 Law on the Protection of Children's Rights includes the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which is responsible for formulating policy, the National Committee for Children, responsible for ensuring the implementation of those policies, and the National Council for Children, an umbrella organization coordinating municipal agencies and non-governmental organizations on the local level. The two main laws governing child protection in Mongolia are the 1996 Law on the Protection of Children's Rights and the 1999 Law on Family.

Article 12 is sporadically implemented in Mongolian legislation. Neither the Law on the Protection of Children's Rights nor the Law on Family directly states that children have the right to express an opinion in all matters affecting them. According to the Law on Family, if a child's interests and his/her parents' or guardians' wishes are contradictory, the Governor of Soum (county) and district appoints a representative, “to protect the interests of children.”[3] The law does not specify that the representative must convey the wishes of the child nor does it specify if the representative is a lawyer, guardian ad litem, or another professional. The wishes of a child over age 7 have immense importance in custodianship (similar to foster care) decisions, for the consent of a child over 7 must be obtained before a decision is made.

In Mongolia, a child also has the right to take any legal complaints directly to court if he feels that his rights have been violated, and children's hotlines and officials are available throughout the country for children to voice complaints. Furthermore, the Law on Family provides that, “A child possesses the right to suspend or terminate the relationship with his/her parents, custodians, and guardians if a child considers his/her rights are broken and claims he/she will reestablish the relationship when the hardship for a child has ceased to exist.”[4] It is unclear how a child goes about suspending or terminating his relationship with his parents or who takes care of him in the meantime.

Though Mongolia has made significant progress in revising its domestic legislation to more adequately provide rights for children, the country is still struggling with the implementation of those laws. There is a significant gap between theory and practice, particularly in rural areas where civil and legal education is lacking.[5] At the same time, Mongolia is struggling with grave societal and economic difficulties. Recovery from 70 years under Soviet influence has been difficult, leaving many citizens unemployed or in poverty. According to the Ministry of Health, in 1998 47.9% of children aged 0-15 were living in unemployed or impoverished households, a number that has only been increasing.[6] There has been little progress in solving the problem of undernourished children. A 1997 study by the Mongolian Nutrition and Food Institution found that 46.9% of school-children were underweight.[7] Furthermore, poverty leads to many children leaving home and living on the streets, leading some girls to child prostitution. So while the Mongolian government struggles to provide children with adequate healthcare, nutrition, and education and to educate the public about child abuse, it is likely that the participation of children in procedures is not one of the government's most pressing concerns.

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

25.1.A child shall exercise equal rights with the other members in his family.

25.2.It is forbidden to discriminate against and violate the rights and interests of illegitimate children and stepchildren.

25.3.Parents, custodians and guardians shall be obliged to protect children's interests and rights.

25.4.If it was established that the interests of parents, custodians and guardians are contradictory to the interests of the children, then a Governor of Soum (county) and district shall appoint a representative to protect the interests of children.

25.5.A Governor of Soum and district shall protect the interests of orphans and children of those who have respectful reasons, for example if both parents are legally incapable, being in hospital for a long period, serving an imprisonment sentence, or their parental rights have been limited or excluded, or those who escaped to maintain the children.

25.6.Employees of kindergartens, schools, and medical organisations shall be obliged to provide information on children as defined in 25.4 and 25.5 of this law to a Governors of Soum and district (residing).

25.7.The children's care centres and/or other children supporting institutions shall be obliged to report on children, transferred from police, to the Governor of Soum and district within three days thereafter.

25.8.The Governor of Soum and district, who has received information as defined in 25.6 and 25.7 of this law, undertakes a duty to examine the life condition of the children and to determine whether there are parents or relatives there for them or not within three days thereafter and if not, shall be responsible for protecting the child's rights and interests.

25.9.The Governor of Soum and district shall conduct a survey on children in difficult circumstances and be responsible for organizing adoptions to families which wish to do so.

25.10.If adoption is not possible, as described in 25.9 of this law, a Governor of Soum and district shall resolve the issues of whether to appoint a custodian, or adopt or to transfer to children care institutions.

Article 74. Activities related to custodianship

74.1.Any citizens may exercise custodian rights and responsibilities over children or infants who are defined as being in difficult circumstances at one's own expenses (providing a home and other expenses related to education).

74.2.In order to bring up children at home, a contract shall be made between the applicant and the social welfare organisation for a fixed period.

74.3.The contract shall specify the conditions to bring up the child, such as support of a host family to bring up and educate the child, the rights and duties of the social welfare organisation and custodians, and rewards and other legal advantages to be provided for custodians, as well as other conditions to terminate the contract and follow-up measures.

74.4.The contract is subject to early termination at the request of the custodian under such conditions as when there is a conflict or misunderstanding that has evolved within the family, or financial difficulties, or change in family status, or sickness, or the termination is deemed necessary by the children's rights institutions, or adoption, or a child is returned to his parents.

74.5.If the child is older than seven years, his/her consent must be obtained prior to decision over custodianship.

74.6.A child under the custodianship shall exercise the right to have an access to social welfare assistance such as accommodation, cash subsidies, and compensation for loss of the parents in accordance with related law.

74.7.The reward described in 74.3 of this law shall be financed by the social welfare fund in accordance with the Law on Social Welfare.

74.8.The social welfare organisation shall monitor the activities of supporter as a custodian and trustee in accordance 66.2 of this law.

1.A child must not be separated from the parents in any illegal ways. A child shall only be separated from the parents by a court in accordance with the law in order to protect the rights of a child. If a child is separated from his/her parents for this reason, a child shall go under the guardianship of the government.

2.A child possesses the right to suspend or terminate the relationship with his/her parents, custodians, and guardians if a child considers his/her rights are broken and claims he/she will reestablish the relationship when the hardship for a child has ceased to exist.

3.A child possesses the rights to have confidential communications and to have private accommodations.

4.It is prohibited to take children for immigration illegally, to take them as hostages, to kidnap them, to become their custodian illegally, impose a forceful marriage before the legal age of marriage, use them in spying and other terrorist actions, to torture them, to outrage them, to injure them, to calumniate, to debase them, to degrade them, and to attract them to the use of narcotics, alcohol and smoking, gambling, bestial (graceless) and other immoral activities, and other activities that are not in compliance with the law.

5.All government officials are obliged to allow children in prison to have an access to education, develop his/her talents, and to be employed in accordance with the law. It is prohibited to imprison children with adults.

6.It is prohibited for individuals, organizations, and companies to abuse children's labor, employ children for work positions that are harmful to his/her morals and health, to discriminate in wages and abuse children for profit-making activities and cadging.

Article 24. Making legal complaints when children's rights are violated.

1.A child shall possess rights to take legal complaints himself/herself to the court or with support from his/her parents, custodians, guardians, other citizens and organizations if he/she considers that his/her rights are violated.

2.Parents, custodians, guardians, and other citizens may take complaints to the court if their children's rights are violated.

3.Children's organizations and officers in charge of children issues of Soum and district on behalf of children may require parents, custodians, guardians, citizens, government officers, organizations, and companies to comply with children's rights and take complaints to government agencies or a governor if deemed necessary.

[7] National Coalition of NGOs of the Rights of the Child, Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Mongolia (1995-2000): Alternative Report of the National Coalition of NGOs of the Rights of the Child of Mongolia on the Second Report of the Government of Mongolia to the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 7 (2004) at http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=5500.